Canada losing moral standing over treatment of Omar Khadr: Dallaire

CHIMO

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Tue May-13-08 07:29 PM
Original message

Canada losing moral standing over treatment of Omar Khadr: Dallaire

Source: CBC News

Canada has sunk to the moral equivalent of al-Qaeda by failing to treat Canadian Omar Khadr the same way it treats other child soldiers, Liberal Senator Rom�o Dallaire said Tuesday.

Dallaire, who appeared before a foreign affairs committee on international human rights, said Khadr is clearly a child soldier who shouldn't be prosecuted by an illegal court system at Guantanamo Bay but reintegrated into society.

Canada is heading down a slippery slope by failing to obey the United Nations conventions on child soldiers to which it is a signatory, he said.

"If you want a black and white � I am only too prepared to give it to you: absolutely," said Dallaire. "You are either with the law or you are against the law. You're either a child soldier or you're not. You're either guilty or you're not."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/05/13/dallaire-khadr.html

This one soldier has seen a lot and calls a spade a spade.

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thunder rising

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Tue May-13-08 07:34 PM
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1. Canada lost moral standing lying about HIllary's NAFTA communique claiming it was Obama

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HeresyLives

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Tue May-13-08 07:40 PM
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2. A good man, who's been

to hell and back. He says he'll harass Harper over this, and I hope he does. Canada is ashamed of government non-action on Khadr.

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Spazito

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Tue May-13-08 07:40 PM
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3. I have enormous respect for Romeo Dallaire....

He is absolutely right, we have lost our moral standing, we are no different than the bushite US right now. The US will be changing it's direction to the better starting Jan 09, I have NO doubt.

I only hope we do the same.....soon.

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provis99

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Tue May-13-08 09:28 PM
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4. Khadr was 15 at the time, and therefore not a "child soldier" by Convention definition

Edited on Tue May-13-08 09:33 PM by provis99

child soldiers are those under 15, and as he was out of uniform when involved in the incident, his summary execution is permitted by the Geneva Conventions. What's all the fuss about?

Its a terrible situation, and under civilian law he would be treated differently, but the Geneva Conventions don't help him much here; its actually pretty specific that he is not a prisoner of war, and is an illegal combatant.

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HeresyLives

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Tue May-13-08 10:05 PM
Response to Reply #4

5. Under 18

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_use_of_children

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crimsonblue

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Tue May-13-08 11:26 PM
Response to Reply #4

6. umm...

what? "illegal combatant" is a phrase created by Dubya et al. Every person that this captured on the battlefield is a POW, and deserves the same basic human rights, irregardless of if they kicked a kitty or slaughtered 1000. Every man deserves a fair trail and humane treatment. No ifs, ands, or buts.

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Posteritatis

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Wed May-14-08 03:21 AM
Response to Original message

7. "Love" the comments in that article

One dipshit basically claims Dallaire all but orchestrated the genocide (and seems to have drank the Belgian kool-aid on the issue to boot).

This is why we can't have nice things, people!

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LynnTheDem

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Wed May-14-08 09:36 AM
Response to Original message

8. Even worse, Canada will be sinking to the moral equivalent of

America.

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